A list of the Patriots regular season receiving totals:
Wes Welker: 1,569 yards (9 TDs)
Rob Gronkowski: 1,327 yards (17 TDs)
Aaron Hernandez: 910 yards (7 TDs)
Deion Branch: 702 yards (5 TDs)
Chad Ochocinco: 276 yards (1 TD)
Benjarvus Green-Ellis: 159 yards (0 TDs)
Danny Woodhead: 157 yards (0 TDs)
Matthew Slater: 46 yards (0 TDs)
Julian Edelman: 34 yards (0 TDs)
Kevin Faulk: 34 yards (0 TDs)
Tiquan Underwood: 30 yards (0 TDs)
Stevan Ridley: 13 yards (0 TDs)
TOTAL: 5,257 yards (39 TDs)
A list of the Patriots regular season rushing totals:
Benjarvus Green-Ellis: 667 yards (avg 3.7)
Stevan Ridley: 441 yards (avg 5.1)
Danny Woodhead: 351 yards (avg 4.6)
Tom Brady: 109 yards (avg 2.5)
Shane Vereen: 57 yards (avg 3.8)
Kevin Faulk: 57 yards (avg 3.4)
Aaron Hernandez: 45 yards (avg 9.0)
Wes Welker: 30 yards (avg 7.5)
Julian Edelman: 8 yards (avg 2.0)
Rob Gronkowski: 2 yards (avg 2.0)
Brian Hoyer: -3 yards (avg -0.8)
TOTAL: 1,764 yards
On PFT Live today, Tom Curran from CSNNE talked about how the Patriots offense could be slowed: “Hit Gronkowski, hit Welker, hit Hernandez.” Curran stressed that keying on these Pats offensive weapons, together with getting quick pressure on Brady is the key. To break it down further, the game will become a series of line matchups, to see if “can Suggs beat Nate Solder, can Ngata beat Dan Connolly before Wes Welker comes out of his break.”
PFT Live host Mike Florio also commented on how if the Pats win this new-school offense vs old-school defense game, another similar challenge will be waiting in the Superbowl against a strong defensive team in the Giants or 49ers. Therefore, one of the most important storylines for the Pats playoff hopes is the health of the offensive line, which has used 9 different players over the course of the season.
Gronkowski: “(Hernandez) is a beast, and I’m looking forward to practice, and playing with him out there.”
Simms: “He called Hernandez a beast, and he’s not the only one.”
A few observation from the Patriots last regular season game:
- As mentioned in some of Bill Belichick’s conferences before the game, teams with nothing playoff-wise to play for call much riskier plays than they would otherwise. This was evidenced in the first quarter with the Bills going for a fake punt on the very first possession, and going for it on 4th and 4 in the first quarter.
- The Patriots defense had a lot of problems with the Bills spread 5-wide offense in the first quarter. This was especially between LB Dane Fletcher, who was beaten on man coverage a number of times in the Bills’ third drive, including a TD pass to RB CJ Spiller. The spread offense wasn’t as successful later on when the Bills were forced into some longer third downs.
- Good to see the Patriots coming up with 4 interceptions (and 1 called back) in this game, giving some of the Patriots secondary some much-needed confidence coming into the playoffs.
- There were four dropped passes in this game by the Patriots, three by Wes Welker, and one by Rob Gronkowski. It has to be noted that these guys, plus Aaron Hernandez, had the lion’s share of targets in the game.
A few observations from watching the TV copy of the game:
- The Patriots again used the hardcount shift on defense at the goal line, and again it worked to draw a false start penalty. It seems like a useful tool at the goalline or in short yardage situations which has resulted in a high amount of false starts. The drive resulted in a field goal.
- LB Dane Fletcher had a good first half, drawing a holding penalty and being influential on a key goal-line stop. Fletcher seemed to tire into the second half.
- Three red zone stands by the Redskins in this game, which is uncharacteristic for the Pats to not come up with the TD (who have a high red zone efficiency).
- When S James Ihedigbo was injured early in the third quarter, it looked like S Sergio Brown ran on to the field, whether he thought he was next in the safety rotation or was just keen to get onto the field. However, before the next snap, he was replaced by S Matthew Slater, showing the coaching staff’s hesitance to use Brown except on special teams.
- More of a theory than an observation, but perhaps a part of the argument between QB Tom Brady and OC Billy O’Brien stems from the fact Brady ‘likes’ Tiquan Underwood, and O’Brien was thought to ‘like’ Taylor Price, and O’Brien may’ve been pointing out that Price wouldn’t have made a better play on the ball than Underwood did on the interception. Earlier in the year it was observed Price was not invited when Brady worked out in the offseason with his receivers, and O’Brien mentioned during the season how he wanted to get Price more involved.
- The Patriots had three dropped passes in the game, from Rob Gronkowski, Aaron Hernandez and Wes Welker. There were also plenty of incomplete passes due to wrong routes or bad reads.
More thoughts from the TV copy of the game:
- On Tom Brady’s fumble, it seemed like all of the offensive line and Hernandez, who was in blocking, thought it was an incomplete pass, because there was no scrum for the ball as usually follows a fumble. Perhaps a missed opportunity, and one that Patriots coaches will likely pick up - the offense should attempt to recover any incomplete pass that falls around the line of scrimmage.
- A review of the Patriots overall season would likely reveal that the special teams are so far the poorest aspect of the team, which has given up a couple of large returns, as well as giving up two fumbles. They’ve also tried an unsuccessful onside kick, and missed three field goal attempts.
- The Patriots blitzed CB Philip Adams four times during the game, with three resulting in an incompletion. Adams seems to have taken the role of the defensive back who blitzes, instead of CB Kyle Arrington, who even took snaps at outside linebacker last season.
- The Patriots dropped 5 passes throughout the whole game.
A collection of observations from the TV copy:
- Some good tackling in this game by the Giants, especially on TE Aaron Hernandez (who usually can make the first man miss) on the Patriots first series by S Antrel Rolle.
- Best hit by a Patriot this season: LB Brandon Spikes on TE Jake Ballard at the 8-min mark of the game. Spikes just stopped all of Ballard’s forward motion, not letting him get the first down.
- The Patriots first interception came when it looked like LB Michael Boley had his back to the line of scrimmage, and QB Tom Brady attempted to throw right past him, but Boley turned and tipped the ball to LB Mathias Kiwanuka. Brady had solid protection on the play, but no-one seemed open at the time he threw it.
- CB Devin McCourty followed up a good first half last week with another strong first half in this game, recording a pass defense on a play where the Giants were called with a holding penalty, and missing no tackles.
- Excellent punting from Giants P Steve Weatherford to put 5 out of 6 first half punts inside the 20. Questionable calls from PR Julian Edelman to catch all 5 punts, when 4 of them would probably have bounced into the endzone for a touchback.
A collection of thoughts from the TV copy of the game:
- Andre Carter’s second sack of the game came where Vince Wilfork and Carter each faced one blocker, and Albert Haynesworth faced three. Carter beat his man, and Haynesworth caused enough to keep his men occupied while Tony Romo went down. Wilfork was a non-factor as he was spun around on the play.
- Great tackle by Danny Woodhead after the Aaron Hernandez fumble in the 3rd quarter. Cowboys DB Newman only had Nate Solder and Tom Brady to beat to get to the endzone, and had blockers in front of him.
- On a completion to Ogletree with around 7 minutes remaining in the game, Patrick Chung made a big hit, but looked to be close enough to the catch to be able to swat the ball, rather than making the hit. It looked like similar plays Sergio Brown made in the Chargers game (although Brown failed to make either the pass breakup or the tackle), questioning whether the coaching strategy of the Patriots is to make big hits to knock the ball out, rather then attempting to swat or punch the ball in the air.
